Dengeki PlayStation Vol.112 (July 9, 1999)

I for one welcome Japan's media's overt sexualism overall. It is better than America where everyone acts like repressed Puritans and has moral panic over anything that could be considered offensive.

PS1 era is still the best. I enjoy just looking through that magazine

15 hours ago, ml0045 said:

I for one welcome Japan's media's overt sexualism overall. It is better than America where everyone acts like repressed Puritans and has moral panic over anything that could be considered offensive.

I agree with you, but there are plusses and minuses to all cultures, and things do change over time. 

Japan can still laugh at Master Roshi's attempts to molest any female he encounters as harmless good humor (even as I literally pass "beware of perverts" signs on street corners on my drive to work), while in recent years some Western fans have begun to feel uncomfortable with laughing at sexual harassment.  Too sensitive?  Maybe, but if someone is genuinely offended by something and not just LOOKING for something to be offended by, you can't exactly tell them they're wrong to be offended.

And as you say, Japan is much freer in depicting sexuality, particularly in cartoon characters, which can be seen as a plus for those non-puritanically minded.  But they also feel free to (legally) depict sexuality in underage cartoon characters, as even hardcore pornography involving 10-year olds is legal so long as it's just a manga or cartoon character and not a real child.  Most of the rest of the world would consider that a definite minus.  

The creators of Dragon Quest were recently in the news for an interview in which they decried America's censorship of some of their female character's outfits, and pointed out how America's ridiculous snowflake culture forced them to change the character selection from "male" or "female" protagonist to "type 1" and "type 2" - and their point is well taken.  Being so sensitive to issues surrounding gender that you'd sooner just avoid addressing it altogether is not a problem Japan is likely to have any time soon.  But at the same time, Japan remains the only G7 country that doesn't recognize same sex couples and except for specific cities in which it is banned can legally discriminate against people based on sexual orientation. 

Plusses and minuses.

People can be offended, nobody is stopping them from being. However, just because they are offended shouldn't mean it should stop other people from enjoying something they find non-offensive.

Of course I am just talking about media. Whatever thing happens in media or art should not be be used as an excuse or to fuel real-life crimes. That goes for sex and violence. Art shouldn't really have boundaries as it isn't real and there are no victims as you said, despite how very twisted and offensive it can be.

I disagree with Japan's anti-same-sex marriage law, but let's not act like the G7 is some group of saints.  

3 hours ago, ml0045 said:

People can be offended, nobody is stopping them from being. However, just because they are offended shouldn't mean it should stop other people from enjoying something they find non-offensive.

Right, but it isn't as if anyone's passed any laws against the "dirty old man trope" in anime, or passed laws saying that it's illegal to mention gender in a videogame.  It's just changing mores of certain countries, and businesses reacting in whatever way they feel will net them the most profit.  If a business feels they can sell more product by censoring something, they probably will.  They aren't on a soapbox crusade, they're just trying to make a buck. 

In Japan, one of the quickest and easiest ways to make more money is to slap some "fan service" into your product, increasing its appeal.  Their frustration comes about when they try to export that product to a country where that sort of thing acts to limit the potential audience, rather than increase it.  They say sex sells, but in America, at least, that isn't always true, depending on what the product is and who the target audience is.  

3 hours ago, ml0045 said:

I disagree with Japan's anti-same-sex marriage law, but let's not act like the G7 is some group of saints. 

Of course.  It was just making the point that every culture has different levels of conservatism and cultural norms.  Japan scoffs at American conservatism that forces them to hide the revealing cleavage of their characters if they want an E rating on their games, while some Americans might look at Japan's lack of legal recognition for gay couples as a conservatism whose time for change is past due.  Luckily, every country gets to decide its own morals, cultural behaviors, and laws for itself.  Though again, once international business becomes involved, we have no choice but to work with cultural differences as best we can.

I don't disagree with most of what you said and I appreciate the debate. But to add to one point:

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businesses reacting in whatever way they feel will net them the most profit.

This is becoming more difficult in my opinion recently as seen by games that try to toe the line too much with certain things that they create an unwanted backlash. I think of games like Concord which costs Sony hundreds of millions of dollars.